Grain-door opener



J.YH. PANK ET AL GRAIN DOOR OPENER May 2o, 1924. 1,494,370

Filed April 21,- 1923 Cab atented 20, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOHN H. PANE AND EUGENE r'.l?A'l"I.EY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA..

GRAIN-Doon OPENER.

Application filed April 21, 192.3. Serial No. 633,656,

To all whom t 'may concern Be it known that we, JOHN ll. PANK and EUGENE BAfr'rnr, citizens of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Door Openers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the-invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to grainor similar door openers and has for its object toy provide such anopener that is extreinelysimple, easy toposition, in respect to a grain door of a car, and operate to open said door, and of comparatively small cost to manufacture.

Car grain doors are now either opened by very expensive openers which can only be afforded by companies handling a large number of cars,.or they are mutilated in opening by meansl of an ax, crow bar or other tool to release the grain back ofthe door, to permit the same to be opened.

Bv the use of opener, a grain door may be very easily and `quickly opened withoutdamaging the same,

and the expense of said opener is such that elevator and other companies, ,unloading only a very limited number of cars, can afford to have one or more of the same.

To the above end, generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

ln the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views. l

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved grain door opener; Y Fig. 2 is a right-side elevation of the same, with its rain positioned against the grain door of aV car positioned at one side of a grain-receiving pit or hopper; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view with some parts sectioned on the line 3;?) of Fig. 1.

The numeral 4 indicates a grain-receiving pit or hopper, at one side of which is positioned a grain or box car 5 having a door opening closed by a grain door 6 which bears against the inner faces of the door post 8 of said opening.

our improved grain door Grain doors are either made in a single or a plurality of sections, supported, the one upon the other, against the inner face ofthey are nailed or otherfor the purpose of this be treated as a sindoor pos-ts to which wise secured; but case, the grain door may gleV section.

Extending over the grain pit 4 parallel to the track rails, notshown, on which the car 5 is positioned, is a pair of track rails 9 in the form of I-beams. The grain door opener is in the form of a ram comprising, as shown, kan I-beam 10, to the front end vof which is pivoteda door-engaging head 11. This beam 10 is mounted on a carrier 12 for endwise vsliding movement, and which carrier is intermediately fulcrumed on ashaft plane and imparts a like movementto ysaid beam. The shaft 13 is journaled in bearings 141 secured to a carriage 15v mounted on the track rails 9. The carrier 12 includes a pair of laterallyspaced vertically disposed `side plates having at the intermediate portions of their lower edges,l `bearings 16 through which the shaft 13 projects.

These sideplatesof the carrier 12 are rigidly connected by front andrear lower cross tie bolts 17 and front and rear upperv cross tie bolts 18, on which arejournaled anti friction rollers 19 and 20, respectively. The beam 10 of the ram is extended between the upper andlower pairs of rollers 19 and 20, and its. `iianges, which kare vertically disposed, rest on the rollers 19 and support said beam for endwise travelling movement` and which flangesl are engaged by the upper rollers 2O and hold the beam 10 from tilting on the rollers 19. Bosses 21 on the inner faces of the side plates of the carrier 12, at the rollers 19 and 20, hold the beam 10 against lateral movement.

As shown', of a vertically extended channelv bar, the flanges of p acting teeth 22 for engagement with the grain door 6, as Shown in Fig. 2, and which head is connected to the front end of the beam 1() forvertical swinging movement by, a hinge pin 23 which extends through a pair of laterally spaced hinge lugs 24 on the back v13l kfor swinging movementin a vertical the ram head 11 is in the form l ico which are cut to form ratchetof said head and a U-sha-ped hinge lug 25 f lug 25 extends are secured to said web by bolts 26.

The frame of the carriage 15 comprises a pair of side I-beams 27 which extend parallel to the beam l0 and transversely over the track rails 9, and which side beams, at their front and rear ends, are` rigidly connected by cross tie channel bars 28 and 29, respectively. The cross tie bar'28 is bolted to the under side of the beams 27, and the cross tie bar 29 is bolted to the upper surfaces of said beams and is in kthe form of an arch. This arrangement of the cross tie bars 28 and 29 permits and requires vertical swinging movement of the beam 10. The carriage 15 is supported yony the track rails 9 by depending legs 30 secured in pairs to the side beams 27, and the lower ends of which are laterally expanded to afford shoes that slidably rest on said track rails. Each leg 30 comprises a pair of duplicate members detachably connected to the lower flanges of the beams 27 and to each other by nut-equipped bolts 31. The sides of the shoes of the leg 30 arey in depending converging relation and afford fingers 32 which extend under the upper flanges of the track rails 9 and thereby con-` nect said legs thereto with freedom for longitudinal sliding movement thereon.

s one means of imparting endwise movement to the beam 10 of the ram on the carrier 12, a rack bar 33 is secured to the under side of the web of the beam 10 with which meshes a pinion 34- on the shaft 13. A hand wheel 35, secured tothe left-hand end of a counter-shaft 36, is providedy for rotating the shaft 13 in either direction. This counter-shaft 36 is provided with a pinion 37 which meshes with a gear 38 in the shaft 13, and is journaled in bearings 39 on the carriage 15.

To move the carriagek i5 in either direction on the track rails 9, there is provided a sprocket chain 40 arranged to run over a pair of aligned sprockets 41 and 42, and its ends are attached to the side beams 27 of said carriage. The sprocket wheel 41 is provided with a stub shaft journaled in a bearing 43 on one of the track rails 9, andk the sprocket wheel 42 is keyed to a shaft le journaled in a pair of aligned bearings 15 secured to both of the track rails 9. A hand wheel 46 is provided for rotating said shaft to drive the sprocket chain 40, and a dog 47 on the carriage 15 is arranged to engage the teeth of the gear 38 and thereby prevent a backward endwise movement of the beam 10.

Obviously, by operating the hand wheel 46, the carriage 15 may be moved onvthe track rails 9 to properly position the beam 10 in `respect to the car door 6 so,that its same may be` head 11 may be moved into engagement therewith. By substantially interlmediately balancing the beam 10 on its fulcrum, the easily swung by hand in a. vertical plane to raise or lower the head ll. To open the grain door 6, the beam 10 is first moved into an oblique position and then proj ected` by operating the hand wheel 35 to cause the head 11 to engage the grain door 6, near the top thereof. Further projection of the beam 10, under the movement of the hand wheel 35, willfirst cause the teeth 22 of the head 11 to bite into the grain door 6 to prevent slippage, and then lift the grain door 6 and move the same inward onto the grain. As the grain door 6 is lifted by the ram, the released grain will flow thereunder into the pit 1- and thereby relieve the pressure of grain against said grain door, which makes the final opening of the grain door comparatively easy. lVhen a grain door comprises more'than one section, said sections are removed, one at a time, in a like manner, beginning at the' top.

The above described invention has, in actual usage, proven highly efficient for the purpose had in view.

What we claim is:

1. rlhe combination with a frame, of a door-engaging ram mounted on said frame for vertical swinging and endwise movements, a door-engaging head pivoted to the operative end of said ram., and means for imparting end'wise movements to'said ram, said door-engaging head being pivoted for swinging' movements in a vertical plane, and said headbeing in the form of a vertically extended channel bar, the flanges of which have ratchet-acting teeth.

2. The combination'with a frame, of a ram carrier fulcrumed on the frame for` swinging movement in a vertical plane, an endwise movable ram mounted on the ram carrier with both ends extending far beyond said carrier and its intermediate portion only engaged with said carrier, and means for imparting endwise movement to the ram.

3. The combination with a frame, of a driven shaft journaled on the frame, a ram carrier fulcrumed on the shaft for swinging movement in a vertical plane, an endwise movable ram mounted on the ram carrier, a rack on the ram, and a pinion on the shaft meshing` with the rack.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 in which the ram carrier is provided with upper and lower guide rollers for the ram.

In testimonyv whereof we affix our signatures.

JOHN H. PAN K. EUGENE BATTEY. 

